Equivalent models have a $200 price difference.

Apple has announced that its 128GB iPad will start shipping on 5 February, with the device set to offer more storage at a cheaper price than the equivalent version of Microsoft’s forthcoming Surface Pro.

Cupertino claims its iPad will have double the storage of the 64GB edition, which currently ships with 57GB of usable space.

A quick calculation suggests the 128GB iPad should have somewhere in the region of 114GB usable space.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has confirmed that its 128GB Surface Pro, which ships with the fully featured Windows 8 OS, will have 83GB of usable space out-of-the-box. This is due to the Windows 8 OS, built-in apps and a recovery partition taking up a third of the space.

The 128GB model starts at $799, making the iOS device $200 cheaper than the Surface Pro.

Users will be able to create a USB and delete the recovery partition to boost the Surface Pro's storage – and will also be able to plug in external storage via the USB or microSD card slots, something that is not possible with the iPad.

The only way to bolster storage on the iPad is to use the cloud or transfer data to another machine.

In terms of pricing, the Apple device could attract business users as there is a steep price difference between the 128GB iPad and Surface Pro.